Scott Nichol | Center | #12

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Scott Nichol has announced his retirement as a player.

He has been brought on board by the Nashville Predators to serve as the club's director of player development. "Every year we sit down as a family and go over if we want to keep going," said Nichol, who would have been eligible for unrestricted free agency in July. "We loved our time in St. Louis, and as a player you always want to play no matter how old you are. But I thought it was time. Nashville approached me, and it was hard to pass it up. I wanted to stay in the game and this was the best chance to give back to the game that gave so much to me. I'll be part of a great organization and I can still tell all of my bad stories and bad jokes and hopefully people will still laugh." Nichol played with Nashville from 2005-06 through 2008-09. He spent the past two seasons with St. Louis and will retire with 662 games of NHL experience under his belt. Wed, Jun 5, 2013 05:42:00 PM

Scott Nichol (lower body) practiced Thursday and he hopes to return before the end of the regular season.

"It's frustrating because it feels good and you want to push it, and then you have to take a step back," said Nichol, who has been out of commission since April 1 due to a lower-body injury. "So, I'm trying to be patient. But if you sit out too long it's kind of hard to jump on a moving train. So I'm hoping to get back soon." Thu, Apr 18, 2013 06:22:00 PM

He didn't take part in the team's morning practice. "He hasn't skated for two days, we'll see how he feels tomorrow," said coach Ken Hitchcock. "Hopefully he's back up and running by the weekend." Thu, Apr 4, 2013 03:24:00 PM

Mike Fisher had an assist in Nashville's 4-2 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday.

That gives Fisher five goals and 14 points in 20 contests this season. He's not a major offensive contributor, but he should at least do significantly better than 2015-16 when he finished with just 23 points in 70 games.

Fiala has scored three of his five goals over the Preds' last two games while playing on a line alongside Mike Ribeiro and Craig Smith. "I thought tonight was his best game in a Predators' uniform," Laviolette said on Fiala. "I thought he worked extremely hard. He brought the puck to the net and was confident in what he was doing; it was a real positive for him and his line. I thought they did a lot of good things offensively out there, but Kevin sure did have a good game with a lot of great things offensively." Keep an eye on Fiala as he may finally be reaching his potential.

Austin Watson scored one goal, one assist, and was engaged in a fight Tuesday night as the Nashville Predators beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-3.

Watson’s assist came on the first goal of the night at the 14:52 minute mark of the first period. He scored his first goal of the season at 2:42 in the third, and his fighting penalty came at 3:30 in the second to give him the Gordie Howe hat trick. Watson has only three points on the year, so he has not been particularly fantasy relevant. Frederick Gaudreau earned his first career point on an assist for Watson’s goal.

Neal helped lead the way towards a 4-3 win over Colorado. He now has goals in each of his last three appearances, with four points overall in that span. The power forward has 11 goals and 16 points in 21 games so far this season.

Viktor Arvidsson scored a goal in Thursday's 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.

Arvidsson's shorthanded goal in the first period cut Dallas' lead to 2-1. The 23-year-old has scored in back-to-back games. He has nine goals and seven assists in 26 games this season. He's on pace to score 28 goals in 2016-17.

The Nashville Predators have a group of defensemen that can move the puck and join the rush.

P.K. Subban, Mattias Ekholm, Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis make up the team's top four blue liners and each of those players is capable of moving the puck efficiently. "We’re that way," Ekholm said. "We still can defend, and we’re pretty solid at that, but our strength is carrying the puck up and wanting to go on the attack. … Maybe that’s what’s happening with a lot of the stay-at-home defensemen. The speed is too fast right now. All of the defensemen on this team can really defend and join the rush." There's no doubt that Nashville has one of the top groups of defensemen in the NHL right now.

Matt Irwin has been the Predators' top producing defenesman over the team's last three games.

That's all you really need to know about the Preds' season so far. If Irwin is better than All-Stars Roman Josi and P.K. Subban then you have problems. Over that span Irwin has scored three goals and picked up four points. The rest of the Nashville defensemen combined have four points in the last four contests.

Yannick Weber will make his Predators debut Saturday night against Chicago.

Weber is tagging in for the injured Anthony Bitetto. Weber has shown the ability to score from the point, having posted 11 goals for Vancouver two seasons ago. But we'd let him prove himself first before jumping on the Weber-train.

Pekka Rinne allowed four goals on 18 shots in Thursday's 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.

Rinne was yanked just over five minutes into the second period. It's his first regulation loss since Nov. 19. He has an 11-6-4 record with a 2.38 goals-against-average and a .922 save percentage this season. Marek Mazanec entered the game in relief of Rinne. The Preds backup stopped 18 of 19 shots.

Mazanec was demoted on Nov. 24 after he struggled in three contests with Nashville. He then posted a 2.73 GAA and .886 save percentage in five AHL games. He'll serve as Pekka Rinne's understudy while goalie Juuse Saros returns to the AHL so that he can play more regularly.